


Warm Summer Nights

by bearshorty



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 09:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2647181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearshorty/pseuds/bearshorty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius can’t fully remember his favourite summer, so Remus brings summer to Grimmauld Place</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warm Summer Nights

**Author's Note:**

> Written for RS Games 2014

"I want warm summer nights, to lie in a hammock, staring at the stars, telling you stories. I want to dip my toes in the water, to dangle my feet off the edge of the dock and sit leaning forward, looking at you, laughing till our stomachs hurt, that’s the summer I’ve always dreamt about."

~ Anonymous

 

"So, if you could be anywhere, where would you be?”

“What?”

“Humour me. It’s a game. It is called ‘Anywhere But Here.’ You were just complaining again about being stuck here. So let’s play. Where would you be?”

Sirius turned his head to look at Remus with a look that clearly showed that he thought Remus ridiculous for asking such a question. Sirius was lying on the sofa with his legs dangling over one side, a bottle of Firewhiskey keeping him warm on a February night. For the last fifteen minutes he had been complaining again about being stuck in this godforsaken childhood home and railing against Dumbledore, Peter Pettigrew, Snape, the Ministry and the whole world.

Remus, who listened patiently from his armchair, looking at the fireplace, finally interrupted to ask his question because listening to the same speech for the last week he had been home was getting a little tiresome. _When did Grimmauld Place become home anyway?_ Clearing that thought out of his head, he kept looking at Sirius expectantly, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius scoffed. “That is a ridiculous question,” he said. “I would be out there, in the Ministry, guarding the fucking prophecy or tracking that blasted rat and torturing that vermin very slowly.”

“I am keenly aware of that. No, I mean, if everything were over, if you could go anywhere.” Remus bit his lip, in a way that he knew was Sirius’ weakness. “Please,” he added.

Sirius tilted his head back to face the ceiling and closed his eyes. He took several sips of Firewhiskey and was quiet for so long that Remus gave up on hearing anything from him. At least Sirius was not moaning the same tired speech anymore. Remus sat, looking at the fireplace, warming his feet. 

It was truly freezing outside and he was glad to be safe and warm for the moment. He smelled his cup of hot chocolate before drinking it and savoring the taste. The clock was ticking in the background, and in the quiet the atmosphere was very peaceful. It almost felt normal.

“Summer,” Sirius suddenly said.

Remus startled a bit. “Hmm?”

“It would have to be summer. That’s where I’d be.” 

“Just summer?” Remus said.

“No. Just that feeling.” Sirius took another sip from his bottle, opened his eyes and turned again toward Remus. His gray eyes seemed alive and bright for the first time in days.

“Remember that summer before our seventh year, where that fucking traitor invited us to his father’s summer house, on that lake?” Sirius continued, “and we spent two weeks there?”

"Of course, I remember,” said Remus.

“That’s where I’d be. That summer, on that lake, with you and James.” Sirius was looking at the fire now.

“It was a good summer.” Remus had very fond memories of that summer. A clear image arose in his mind of Sirius, grinning mischievously at him before convincing him to go skinny dipping in that lake.

It was late then, that summer evening, with everyone else asleep, and the moon was half full, shining on the calm surface. They were sitting on the dock with their feet dangling in the surprisingly warm water, talking of something, something related to Quidditch, perhaps, he no longer remembered, when Sirius dared him. They were so young, so carefree, despite the growing storm, and Remus felt like the world actually had a future for him. That evening was the first time for many things, things he only barely hoped for before. Remus could still smell that night and taste the water on Sirius’ skin.

“That was definitely a good summer,” Remus said again.

“I remember it happened and I know it was one of the happiest times for me, but that happiness is blurred. The Dementors took that all. I can’t remember the little things. The colours seem faded. When I left Azkaban, it was like all the memories that the Dementors did manage to leach, despite my best effort, came back, but came back blurry, with details missing. I wish I could recapture it, you know.” Sirius continued to stare wistfully into the fire.

“Sirius…” Remus began, trying to keep pity, which he knew Sirius detested, from his voice, but Sirius interrupted him.

“No. This was stupid. The furthest I’d get is the attic.” 

Sirius got up, a little unsteady on his feet. He let the empty bottle just roll under the sofa. 

“Don’t look for me tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Remus nodded. He knew Sirius’ moods lately only too well. He also knew that while he would be alone when he went to sleep tonight in his room, in the morning he would wake up with either Sirius or Padfoot next to him. 

Sirius made his way out of the room and Remus sat there staring at the fire, remembering that summer and wondering what it would be like to remember without remembering the feelings that made those memories special.

*****************

The big grandfather clock in the sitting room struck eight, which Remus knew resonated all through the house. Sirius would be here any moment at Remus’ request. 

Remus got up from the armchair where, for the last half an hour, he was mentally reviewing all the spells he learned for this evening. For the last week, he spent all his available free time in the Black private library, researching incantations and possibilities. If his surprise for Sirius worked, it would certainly be time well spent.

He heard Sirius coming up the stairs from the kitchen and faced the door. Sirius was certainly puzzled when Remus asked for some time in the sitting room after dinner but easily agreed. Remus was relieved that he didn’t have to fight Sirius on a minor issue. 

The door opened and Sirius came in, smiling wryly. “Are you done with your secret meditations yet? I need the sofa,” he said. 

And then he stopped abruptly, noticing the starry ceiling, and a bit of moonlight of a half-moon coming from the corner of the room. Remus was particularly proud of that. Seeing two small trees at each end of the sofa also made an impression.

“What’s this?” Sirius asked.

“Come in, Sirius.” Remus extended his left hand for Sirius to take.

Sirius warily entered the room and slowly took Remus’ hand. Remus guided him to the sofa.

“I’ve been thinking about your memory. About summer. And how you said you don’t remember the details,” said Remus.

“What of it?” said Sirius as he sat down. 

“Well, I can’t take you to that house right now or probably not this summer. But I thought that I can make that memory clearer. Bring those colours back to it that Dementors took. I thought about a Pensieve at first so you can see my memory of it, but those are not that portable or easy to find and I had a better idea.”

“Better than perfect rendering of a memory?” Sirius said, raising one eyebrow. He was certainly in a good mood today, or at least amused, which made Remus very glad.

“That summer was not only about the visual memory. A true perception needs all the senses. So I thought I’d bring the summer here, to this sitting room,” said Remus.

“Right. By putting trees in the room and making the sky on the ceiling?” wondered Sirius.

“Hey, don’t knock it. It wasn’t easy to conjure up two trees of perfect size for what I need tonight.”

Sirius put up two hands palms out, in conciliatory gesture. “I’m not criticizing the spellwork, Moony. I just don’t see the point.”

Remus smiled. “Just wait,” he said.

He waved his wand in a fairly complex pattern he was proud to have mastered and the sofa changed under Sirius and transformed into a hammock. Sirius had to grab the sides after nearly falling out of it.

“Remus!” he exclaimed while trying to untangle himself. 

“Stay there,” said Remus, smiling at him and Sirius stilled, taking a deep breath, clearly deciding to just indulge Remus. He settled in the hammock.

Remus waved his wand again and the stars overhead on the ceiling seemed to twinkle and go on forever into the darkness above. A warm breeze came out of nowhere and there was the sound of the water of a lake, slightly vacillating in the background. Remus could smell the water and fresh grass, the honeysuckle and the vaguely rotten scent of a tree. 

Remus moved toward the hammock and went to lie down in it. He was trying to squeeze next to Sirius.

“Budge over. This used to be easier.”

“We are not boys anymore, are we?” said Sirius, while moving over and turning so his arm could fit behind Remus’s body. Remus ended up with his head right next to Sirius’. Remus moved his left hand down to touch Sirius’ hand.

“There. It was like this. We spent some time in a hammock by the lake too and it was like this.”

Remus turned his head to see what Sirius was doing. Sirius was looking up at the stars with a small smile in the corner of his lips. 

“You covered sight and smell and hearing and even touch. What about taste?” Sirius glanced at Remus and wiggled his eyebrow.

Remus smiled and took his wand and a bit of water landed in Sirius’ mouth. Sirius sputtered.

“You mean like lake water after I dunked your head in?” Remus laughed.

Sirius pounced, which was not that easy in a hammock. They were in danger of falling to the ground but just managed to just stay up as Sirius pinned Remus’ wand hand and planted a kiss on Remus’ smiling mouth.

Sirius lifted his head up. “Thank you,” he said.

“We are not done yet,” Remus said.

“Well, no,” Sirius smirked.

“Not that, although hold that thought for later. I mean that I have a plan.”

“Which is?”

“We are going to lie here and look at the stars and I will tell you my memory. And then you will tell me a story too and maybe…”

“Maybe,” Sirius said and settled back down. He scooted down a little to put his head on Remus’ chest.

Remus found Sirius’ hand again. “And in the summer, I will take you to the real house and that lake. It was sold you know. I tracked it down and we are going to rent it for a week, even if you have to be Padfoot for a bit. I’ll convince Dumbledore. I promise.”

“Hmm,” Sirius said. He was staring up at the stars again.

“You don’t believe me.”

“I believe you,” said Sirius quietly. “It’s this war I don’t trust. It’s a nice thought, though. To be able to leave here. To have summer again.”

Remus squeezed his hand once more.


End file.
